Larix decidua larch
As one of the few deciduous conifers the European larch is an oddity. Its foliage turns yellow in autumn and drops while that of most of the other conifers stays resolutely dark green and clings to the branches. This makes larches softer and more feathery-looking than most conifers, and makes their forests gentler places too. The falling needles create a rich and hospitable mulch beneath the trees, which, combined with the increased light levels, allow for a pretty and varied understorey of bluebells and forest shrubs that would never be found under the dense and dark canopy of most conifer forests. Larches are native to the mountains of central Europe and not native to Britain. However, they are found in huge swathes in Scottish plantations, where they were planted in vast number in the 1800s for timber and for reforestation. You will also see them in parks and gardens.
1 Bark
Pinky brown to pale brown in colour, and developing fissures and knobbly plates with age. Twigs have a golden and pinky colour that glows in winter sunshine.
2 Needles
The bright-green soft and flattened needles are bunched together and arranged radially in tufty whorls attached all along the stems by woody nubs.
3 Cones
Short, oval-shaped cones emerge green in the summer and then slowly turn woody and brown towards autumn – just as the foliage is turning yellow.
4 Autumn colour
Needles emerge bright green in spring, turn butter yellow in autumn and drop in winter.
5 Silhouette
When young, its upwards sweeping branches give the larch a classic coniferous cone shape that becomes broader over time.